William Ross
William Johannes Ross (2310s - 2386) was among the leading Admirals in the Federation Starfleet during the Dominion War and a prominent leader in the admiralty in the years immediately following that conflict. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: et. al.) Biography Early life In the 2320s, when Ross was seven years old, he and his parents took the publically-offered tour of the Palais de la Concorde; young Ross entered the Presidential Office for the first time that year, and met several Federation Councillors, though he did not meet President Thelian. ( ) Early Career left|thumb|Lieutenant Commander Ross. In the 2350s, Ross was a Lieutenant Commander, and worked with Starfleet Intelligence. In 2355 he recruited the services of civilian captains Giancarlo and Aldo Corsi of the freighter Ulrika's Hope to conduct some discreet scans of the Topin system in hopes of gaining intelligence on the workings within the Cardassian Union. Despite Ross's assurances, the scans were detected and the Ulrika's Hope was intercepted by a Cardassian vessel commanded by Gul Mogad, who killed Giancarlo Corsi. Ross and his team managed to save most of the rest of the Hope's crew, but the grieving Aldo gave Mogad the intel gathered in exchange for a cessation of hostilities. ( ) thumb Ross was assigned to the during the conflict with the Tzenkethi as second officer. During one battle against two Tzenkethi vessels the Leonov's warp core was breached, and the crew barely had time to make it to escape pods. The Tzenkethi killed half of the surviving crew by shooting down the pods. Those who survived found refuge on an L-class planet. A few months later, Ross learned that the Leonov's coordinates had been given to the Tzenkethi by a member of a rogue intelligence network from within the Federation. Ross tracked down the agent to a remote moon in the Arias sector, where the agent of the rogue intelligence agency known as Section 31 explained his reasoning. The Leonov '' had been about to receive orders to destroy a presumed Tzenkethi industrial complex that had been based on bad intelligence. Section 31 thought that the loss of innocent life would aggravate matters with the Tzenkethi, and took steps to keep the ''Leonov from carrying out its mission. Ross made the difficult decision not to report the man to Starfleet Command and would work with Section 31 again at various times in his career. ( ) By at least 2361, Ross was serving as the executive officer of the . He would survive the attack on the Ulysses by a starship, although he was taken captive by the Cardassians. ( }}) Admiral Ross In 2369, Admiral Ross travelled to Draken IV after Vice-Proconsul M'ret and his aides N'veran and Revaik defected to the Federation and were brought aboard the . Ross had planned to oversee their debriefing although the Vulcans had pressed for the Romulans to be debriefed on . After the Enterprise was damaged by a Romulan weapon and Starfleet was unable to contact her, Ross sent the to investigate. ( ) Admiral Ross was assigned to command Starbase 375 in 2372, following the the death of Admiral Eric Hahn and the arrest of Captain Ishmael Snowden for his role in James Leyton's conspiracy against the Federation government. ( ) During the Dominion War of 2373-2375, he commanded the bulk of the fleet in the Federation's war effort against the Dominion. ( ) Following the Romulan entry into the war, Ross attended a conference on Earth which brought together Humans, Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians. ( ) When the Romulans installed plasma torpedo weapons on the Bajoran moon of Derna, Admiral Ross initially did not involve the Federation in the dispute. Ross would later relent and force Senator Kimara Cretak to order the removal of the torpedoes. ( ) thumb|Vice Admiral Ross wearing his [[dress uniform|dress uniform aboard the in 2375.]] Ross would work with Luther Sloan to discredit Senator Cretak and allow Koval, the head of the Tal Shiar and the top Federation operative in the Romulan Star Empire, to be appointed to the Continuing Committee. ( ) Ross was aboard the during the Battle of Cardassia. Following the battle, Ross joined Benjamin Sisko and Martok in viewing the destroyed headquarters of the Cardassian Central Command. Ross would later preside over the official Dominion surrender and offer Worf the position of Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire. ( ) Ross kept busy in the months following the war, overseeing the response to an attack by rogue Jem'Hadar soldiers on starbase Deep Space 9. ( ) Admiral Ross also coordinated fleet actions during the Gateways Crisis. (Star Trek: Gateways miniseries) In 2376, Admiral Ross and Asarem Wadeen jointly signed the document which admitted Bajor into the Federation. ( }}) After the near-destruction of the at Galvan VI, Admiral Ross headed the inquiry and found Captain David Gold not at fault for the incident. ( ) Ross had access to the Pathfinder Project database and asked the crew of Deep Space 9 for their opinions on the data the had gathered on the Delta Quadrant. ( ) In 2379, Ross discovered that Federation President Min Zife was responsible for supplying the Tezwan madman Kinchawn with the weapons that were responsible for the deaths of 6000 Klingon warriors. Ross and several other Starfleet Admirals resolved to remove Zife from office, with Ross insisting that the President needed to be held accountable for his crimes even if the public never knew. Ross was contacted by Section 31, who wrote Zife's resignation speech and had the President and two of his top advisers quietly executed for their crimes. ( ) Following Zife's resignation, Ross was considered as a likely candidate for the office. He declined to run, and instead became an advisor to Nanietta Bacco's campaign. ( ) Shortly after Bacco's election, Ross and Admiral Leonard James Akaar ordered the [[USS Titan|USS Titan]] under Captain William T. Riker to Romulus in response to Praetor Tal'Aura's request for relief and humanitarian aid to the stricken Romulan Star Empire following Shinzon's assassination of the Imperial Senate. ( ) Ross served as Starfleet liaison to the president following Bacco's election. In late 2380, he retired from this position, and from Starfleet, when Bacco discovered his involvement in the forced resignation and assassination of Zife. Ross did not inform Bacco of the role of Section 31 in Zife's death, fearing that the Bureau would eliminate her if she became aware of it. He instead took the fall for Zife's death. Because of his respected position and history, Bacco allowed Ross to disappear into obscurity rather than face public punishment. ( ) When Section 31 collapsed in 2386, the full story of Admiral Ross' involvement was released to the general public. ( |Control}}, }}) In late 2386, Ross was living on Caldos II when he was arrested by the Federation Security Agency on a number of charges relating to his involvement with Section 31. Ross was returned to Earth and held at the FSA detention facility in San Francisco. Shortly after his arrival, he was interviewed by Attorney General of the United Federation of Planets Phillipa Louvois. While she noted that he continued to act with a military bearing, Louvis noticed how much older Ross appeared than the last time she saw him. At the start of the interview, Louvois informed Ross that he was being recalled to active duty until legal proceedings could be completed, and then read the formal charges against Ross before proceeding to question him about Section 31. During this interview, Ross was shot and killed by Officer Margo Dempsey. This was in revenge for Dempsey's husband being murdered by Section 31 when they engineered the crash of a shuttle he had been traveling on with a Federation diplomat. Following Ross's death,Starfleet analyzed the Section 31 files and found that Ross had been one of the main organic leaders of the rogue agency. ( ) Personal life Ross had at least one son, who also served in Starfleet, as did his nephew Ajit Ross. ( , ) Ross performed the marriage ceremony of Benjamin Sisko to Kasidy Yates in 2375. ( ) Ross was a friend of Morn. ( ) Alternate timeline In an alternate timeline in which the Cardassian Union did not withdraw from Bajor in 2369, Ross became the Starfleet Commander-in-Chief after Admiral James Leyton was killed in the Battle of Sector 001 in 2373. ( |A Gutted World}}) Appendices Background information In his numerous Star Trek: Deep Space Nine appearances, Ross was played by the late actor Barry Jenner. Jenner also voiced Admiral Ross in Dominion Wars. Ross' age is conjecture based upon the age of Jenner; an age of 58 in 2375 yields a birth year of 2317, placing Ross's Palais tour at age seven in 2324. This is consistent with the novel's claim that Thelian was president at that time, since Thelian is conjectured to have assumed office in 2321. Doors Into Chaos notes that Ross is younger than Picard. Appearances 2369 * 2374 * (First appearance) * * ) * * * * }} * * * * * * * * * }} * * * * 2376 * * |Doors Into Chaos}} * |Demons of Air and Darkness}} * |Cold Wars}} * |The Other Side}} * }} * * * 2378 * * * 2379 * * * * * 2386 * }} Connections External link * Category:Humans Category:Starfleet personnel Category:Starfleet personnel (24th century) Category:Starfleet commanders Category:Starfleet admirals Category:Starfleet Intelligence personnel Category:Deep Space 9 personnel Category:Deep Space 9 residents Category:Section 31 associates Category:Starbase 375 personnel Category:USS Cerberus personnel Category:Humans (24th century) Category:Starfleet casualties Category:2386 deaths